Some liquids or combinations of liquids and other compounds may cause enough damage to bring down an aircraft. As a result, authorities have implemented a ban of most liquids, gels and aerosols in cabin baggage. The results of such a ban have been disruptions in operations (e.g., a longer screening process; a change of focus for screeners; additional line-ups), major inconveniences for passengers (as well as potential health hazards for some) and economic concerns (e.g., increased screening costs; lost revenues for airlines and duty free shops; large quantities of confiscated—including hazardous—merchandise to dispose of), and so on.
Commercially available X-ray screening systems provide methods for detecting low level bulk explosive. Such methods typically detect explosives by estimating the effective atomic numbers (Zeff values) of the products under inspection from an X-ray image of that product, the x-ray image being generated by a dual energy X-ray machine. Although such methods are generally precise enough for detecting some high density and high Zeff plastics explosives, they are inadequate for assessing the threat status of liquids.
In light of the above, there is a need to provide an improved technology-based solution for performing inspection of products, and in particular for performing inspection of liquid products, that alleviates at least in part the deficiencies of the existing systems.